So Why Are You Blogging?

Good question.  When the three of us started our sailing adventure, Mac was the only one with any sailing experience.  I have always loved boats and the water but I had no idea how to sail a boat and Evelyn being 2, offered very little constructive advice.  Mac grew up sailing Sunfish in the Bahamas and on local lakes.  So while Mac was tasked with finding us a boat and installing the tow hitch and kit to my car, I was tasked with getting Evelyn swim lessons and figuring out how you sail with a 2 3/4 year old, thus the reason for the blog.  When I started looking around for tips on how to sail with a toddler, I really didn't find a lot for the daysailers of the world.  Some information is out there for the hard core, around the world for a decade types, but not much for those staying closer to home.  After having a season of sailing under our belt, I wanted to have a way to share our successes and failures for anyone looking to daysail with a small child.  And, I wanted a way to chronicle our sails without boring friends and family who have limited interest in sailing, to death on our other blog.

So, the basics:  The Little Boat
The boat is a Holder 14 that we have adoringly named "Nymphaea" after the genus of the water lily.  We sail in local lakes of varying size and tow with my 2002 PT Cruiser, which I adore.  Nymphaea has a jib and a mainsail, a centerboard, a blue hull and we are engine-less!  Daring, we know.

The Little Girl
Evelyn is three, takes swim lessons weekly at AquaTots just to develop a level of comfort in the water.  I'm not expecting her to become an Olympian by her forth birthday.  She is an only child and will continue to be an only child.  We decided long before having her that we were only child types and are happy with that decision.

Us
I am a marine biologist (yep, I wanted to be one too when I was 8.  I never grew out of it) who left my work writing and enforcing environmental regulations to become a stay at home mom.  An experience that I will be forever grateful for having.  Mac is an aviation junky who feeds his habit by working for an international charter airline.

We are officially off the water until spring but I will start back at the beginning with our earliest sails and work our way up to the most recent until we can get back on the water.  Please feel free to comment, I am interested to see who finds us!!

How It All Began

In 1997, a boy (Mac) met a girl (Betsy), both thought the other was pretty spiffy.  Spiffy enough to legally hook up 4 years later and 7 years after that, create pretty much the neatest little girl (Evelyn) either of them had ever met!  3 years after that, Mac mentioned how much he had loved to sail as a kid and how he would love to sail with his two girls.  So 11 years and 2 months (ish) after that first meeting, the little family got a little sailboat and thus their adventures began.